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12 April 2012

K IS FOR KNOWLEDGE

I think there are two kinds of knowledge relating to travel. The first is the knowledge that there is a world out there beyond your own. A knowledge that comes from reading books and listening to others from places not your own home. A knowledge of history, culture, and language can also be gleaned from research without exploration. It’s often beneficial to have this knowledge before traveling, but it doesn’t give you the whole picture.

But then there is knowledge acquired from the travel, the journey, itself. Local people and museums have a history and insight that’s invaluable. Life lessons can sometimes only be learned going out of your comfort zone.

The third kind of knowledge that people can but don’t necessarily learn from travel is about themselves. Self-reflection is a scary thing: admitting to yourself what you do right and what you do wrong takes a lot of courage. Allowing your outlook to be influenced by discoveries along your journey happens less with travelers than we might expect.

“There is a great difference between knowing and understanding: you can know a lot about something and not really understand it”--Charles F. Kettering

“The longest journey a man must take is the eighteen inches from his head to his heart”--Unknown

“How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people.”--Albert Einstein